Athletics: Football
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Coaching Staff:
Mike Donnelly - Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
Tom Perkovich - Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line
Trey Brown - Special Teams Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Ron Hannis - Defensive Line
Bob Kohler - Cornerbacks
Mike Litzenberger - Inside Linebackers
Jordan Purdy - Running Backs
Joel Sheldon - Director of Football Operations/Assistant Special Teams Coordinator
Ryan Kolakowski - Outside Linebackers
Jamel Mutunga - Tight Ends
Mike Kane - Wide Receivers
Head Coach Mike Donnelly
Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backs
Mike Donnelly is the winningest head coach in the history of Muhlenberg College football with a record of 98-61 (.616) in 15 years. Since taking over a program that won a total of 18 games in the eight years prior to his arrival, Donnelly has turned the Mules into a perennial championship contender and national top-10 team.
Donnelly was named regional coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association and D3football.com in 2007 after leading Muhlenberg to its first undefeated regular season in the 106-year program history. The Mules won the Centennial Conference championship, finished the regular season with a 10-0 record and advanced to the second round of the
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The 2008 squad repeated as CC champion and rose to No. 2 in one national poll — the highest national ranking ever for any Muhlenberg team in any sport. Donnelly was voted CC coach of the year.
The Mules are 96-47 (.671) in their last 143 games and have earned eight postseason invitations since 2000. They tied for the Centennial Conference championship four straight years (2001-04) and made their first national playoff appearance in 2002.
In 1999, Muhlenberg finished 6-4 for its first winning record since 1989 and broke or tied 57 school, CC and NCAA records. The 2000 team tied a school record by winning nine games and earned the program’s first postseason bid since 1946. That squad also had three All-Americans for the first time ever. In 2001, Muhlenberg was ranked 16th in Division III in a preseason poll, and the 2002 squad finished ranked 17th after winning 10 games.
The 2003 Mules won their final seven regular-season games and became the first team to win the CC title after losing the conference opener. They duplicated that feat in 2004 and led Division III in total defense.
In his 15 seasons, Donnelly has coached 15 All-Americans, eight Centennial Conference players of the year and five Academic All-Americans.
Donnelly brought to Muhlenberg impressive credentials as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Columbia, where he was instrumental in bringing a struggling program to national prominence in his four seasons there. The Lions ranked in the top 20 nationally in Division I in seven defensive categories in 1996 and compiled an 8-2 record, their best in 51 years. One of his charges, defensive end Marcellus Wiley, was a second-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills.
Originally from Albany, N.Y., Donnelly is a 1975 graduate of Ithaca College, where he was an all-conference linebacker. He has 36 years of coaching experience at the Division I, II and III levels, including stints at Albany, East Stroudsburg, Rensselaer, Ithaca, Lafayette and Buffalo. He coached the linebackers at Ithaca, helping his alma mater to the 1980 NCAA Division III championship game while also leading the Bombers to four consecutive outdoor conference track titles.
Assistant Coach Tom Perkovich
Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line
Tom Perkovich is in his ninth season at Muhlenberg. During his time "Perk" has built offensive lines that paved the way for three of the top five rushers in program history.
One of Perkovich’s linemen earned first-team All-Centennial Conference honors five of the last six years.
Perkovich was running backs coach in 2003 and 2004, helping the Mules to consecutive Centennial Conference championships. Six different backs recorded 100-yard games in his two years, and one became the program’s all-time leading rusher and scorer.
After leaving Muhlenberg, Perkovich furthered his experience at two Division I schools. He was tight ends coach at College of the Holy Cross for the 2005 season and running backs coach at Colgate University in the spring of 2006.
Perkovich returned to the Muhlenberg staff on a full-time basis in 2006, coaching the offensive line and serving as the team’s strength coach. He was special teams coordinator in 2009 and assumed the role of offensive coordinator for the 2010 season.
A native of Tonawanda, N.Y., Perkovich was a rarety in Division I a two-sport athlete. He was an all-star offensive lineman at Canisius College, earning second-team mid-major All-America honors from Football Gazette as a senior. He played in all 42 games during his four-year career, starting the final 31, and also was a four-year letterwinner in basketball.
Assistant Coach Trey Brown
Special Teams Coordinator/Quarterbacks
Trey Brown came to Muhlenberg in 2010 after four seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Lehigh University. The Mountain Hawk offense scored 30 or more points 15 times during his tenure and led the Patriot League in scoring in 2006, when its quarterback was named to the All-Patriot League first team.
Brown coordinated an offense that averaged 32.3 points in league games in 2008 and 27.3 points in 2009. Lehigh scored more than 80 percent of the time it reached the Red Zone both seasons, including a Patriot League-best 87.9-percent efficiency in 2008.
Before coming to the Lehigh Valley, Brown spent one year with the tight ends and four with the wide receivers at the University of Pennsylvania, where he coached the two most prolific receivers in program history. The Quakers were a combined 40-9 during Brown’s stint and won Ivy League championships in 2002 and 2003.
Prior to his arrival at Penn, Brown spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Stanford University. Brown was part of the 1999 staff named the coaching staff of the year by the Pacific-10 conference after that squad captured a Pac 10 title. The Cardinal boasted an offense that was recognized in the top 10 nationally, and the team appeared in the 2000 Rose Bowl.
A native of Longmont, Colo., Brown earned his bachelor’s in marketing from the University of Colorado in 1993.
Assistant Coach Ron Hannis
Defensive Line
Now in his ninth year on the Muhlenberg staff, Ron Hannis was an assistant football coach in the Wilson Area School District from 1998 to 2003, serving as offensive coordinator, offensive and defensive line coach and strength coach. For the previous four years, he coached in the Salisbury Twp. School District. Hannis is a 1994 graduate of East Stroudsburg University, where he won three varsity letters as an offensive guard, earning all-conference honors in 1991.
Assistant Coach Bob Kohler
Safeties
Longtime assistant Bob Kohler is in his 23rd season on the Mule staff in 2012, helping with the cornerbacks. Kohler has assisted under four different head coaches at Muhlenberg since 1978, coaching at nearly every position. He also has spent time at William Allen High School, Kutztown University and Moravian College during his coaching career. Kohler is a retired elementary-school principal.
Assistant Coach Mike Litzenberger
Inside Linebackers
Mike Litzenberger joined the Muhlenberg staff for the 2009 season, bringing 26 years of coaching experience at local high schools. He spent the last six seasons at Catasauqua High School, including the last three as head coach. He previously worked on staffs at Dieruff (1983-88), Emmaus (1989-93), Parkland (1994-2001) and Freedom (2002) high schools.
Assistant Coach Jordan Purdy
Running Backs
A 2007 ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America offensive lineman, Jordan Purdy uses his considerable football and teaching experience to enhance the Mule backfield as running backs coach. Before coming to Muhlenberg in 2010, Purdy spent the past two seasons as the offensive line coach and special teams coordinator at Salisbury High School in Allentown, while also working as an emotional support teacher at Francis D. Raub Middle School. Purdy was a four-year letterwinner and captain at Wilkes University, and was named all-conference in 2005 and 2006, while also earning honorable mention All-America honors in 2006. A native of Easton, Purdy graduated from Wilkes in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Special Education and a minor in history.
Assistant Coach Joel Sheldon
Assistant Special Teams Coordinator/Director of Football Operations
After a year away, Joel Sheldon rejoined the Mule staff as director of football operations in 2010. He has the additional duty of co-special teams coordinator for the fourth year. Sheldon joined the staff in 2002 after two seasons as head coach and offensive coordinator of the semipro Lehigh Valley Steelers of the Garden State Football League. He played semiprofessionally as an offensive lineman for the Lehigh Valley Panthers for the previous two years. A former player at California (Pa.) University, Sheldon is a project manager for Neuber Group in Phoenixville, Pa. He and his wife, Lisa, have two daughters, Madison, 10, and Elizabeth, 3.
Assistant Coach Ryan Kolakowski
Outside Linebackers
Ryan Kolakowski joins the staff in 2012 as coach of the outside linebackers, bringing to Muhlenberg coaching experience at three colleges. He was a student assistant with the defensive line at West Virginia University for two seasons and with the offensive line and linebackers for three years at Central Michigan University, from which he graduated in 2010. After a year as an assistant at Kalamazoo Central High School, he served as a defensive assistant in the secondary at Ave Maria (Fla.) University last season. Kolakowski attended William Mason High School near Cincinnati, where he was a two-year varsity starter at wide receiver and free safety.
Assistant Coach Jamel Mutunga
Tight Ends
A name very familiar around the Centennial Conference, Jamel Mutunga is in his first year on the Muhlenberg staff. Mutunga was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter at running back for Gettysburg, rushing for 2,804 career yards and earning All-CC honors three times. He tied a CC record with five rushing touchdowns in a game and finished his career third on the Bullets' all-time list with 38 TDs. Since graduating from Gettysburg in 2011, Mutunga has worked in the service department at Lexus in Towson, Md.; he previously served as a marketing intern with the Baltimore Ravens.
Assistant Coach Mike Kane
Wide Receivers
Mike Kane is new to the Muhlenberg staff in 2012, coaching the wide receivers. A 2009 graduate of West Chester University, Kane was a volunteer football operations assistant with the defensive staff at Lafayette College the previous two years. He also coached the freshman football team at West Chester East High School in 2008. Kane, who was tri-captain of a district champion football team at Saucon Valley High School, is a mental health worker in the life skills classroom at Pocono Mountain East Junior High School.